MU Advances to the ACCA Final Four

The Run Down

3/1/2012

90-83 win

The Multnomah University Lions faced off with the Champion Baptist Eagles from Hot Springs, Arkansas in the quarterfinal round of the ACCA National Tournament on Thursday night in Joplin, Missouri. Champion Baptist has won the ACCA National Title the 3 of the last 5 years. They also featured the leading scorer in college basketball this year, Brandon Likins, who was averaging 33 points per game and grabbing 16 rebounds per game.

After Tyler Yates nailed a three pointer coming out of the gate in the second half, the Lions had a 21 point lead and things looked good. The Likins got things going and things started to look not so good. David Walker and Erik Mendoza combined to keep Likins at bay in the first half by holding him to a 1-10 effort from the field. In the second half, he started to heat up and led Champion all the way back to cut the lead to 3 points with 3:00 to go.

Then, Austing Hodges and Jared Reando took over. Hodges drove to the basket and either scored, got fouled or dropped the ball off to the Lions 6'9" center for the basket. Steve Bustrin also had some nice assists for Reando, who scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, despite being in foul trouble most of the night. The Lions held on for the 90-83 final score.

Multnomah will now play the #1 seed and defending national champions Hillsdale Baptist on Friday night at 8:45 local time. The winner of this game advances to the championship game. Multnomah is now 17-17 on the year.